Democraciv: Mark 4
Democraciv: Mark 4 (Mk4) 'is the most recent and ongoing iteration of Democraciv. Played through ''Civilization V as China on Emperor difficulty, it has been in play since May of 2018. The Government operates according to its Constitution, which divides it into three branches: the Executive Ministry, the Legislature, and the Judiciary. In addition to these branches, public agencies, known as gentries, assist the branches in the administration of policy. China is currently in the Industrial Era, under a government known as the Qin Dynasty. The Ministry is led by Fruity-Tree, Max, Peppeghetti Sparoni, AEONFighter, and Charlie Zulu. The Speaker of the the Legislature is thorn969. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is Archwizard. The next elections will take place on Oct. 19. Origins Mk4's beginning date back to early 2018. After the conclusion of Democraciv: Mark 3 ''(Mk3), players immediately began to lay the groundwork for Mk4. This started with the drafting of the Constitution, the primary author of which was LePigNexus. The Constitutional Convention ran from May 23 to June 9. On June 17, a referendum was held, which resulted in 78.6% approval by the populace, thereby ratifying the Constitution. This constitution stood out from that of Mk3, which was considered to be bloated and excessively constraining. The framers of Mk4 sought to simplify the structure of the government and its branches, by specifying minimal, necessary powers and leaving anything unmentioned to the Ministry or to statute. Some have argued that this has resulted in ambiguities of what is legal and errors in governance, and several disputes brought before the courts have reflected this. Alongside the vote for ratification was a vote between ''Civilizations V and VI. ''V ''ultimately prevailed with 52.4% of the vote. Political parties began to form, while the vote on the civilization to play as occurred. The first round of voting took place, with China, Austria, Sweden, Arabia, Russia. In a second round that utilized ranked voting, China emerged victorious with 231 points, ahead of Austria, which earned 218 points. Government The Government of China consists of three branches: the Executive Ministry, the Legislature, and the Judiciary. It also consists of gentries, which are formed by consent of these branches. '''Executive Ministry The Ministry serves as the executive branch. Consisting of five members, it is the body that plays the game of Civilization V ''in official sessions streamed over Twitch. Barring any restrictions in the Constitution or in statute, all decisions the Ministry makes in the game are legal. In addition to playing the game, the Ministry has important powers outside of sessions for that purpose. It approves or vetoes bills passed by the Legislature and makes appointments to the Supreme Court and several other offices. Each of the five Ministers is elected through a process known as single-transferable vote. They serve for terms that last for four weeks. While all Ministers have functionally equal power, one has often been designated as the Supreme Commander of the military, who then serves as the streamer. Additionally, the head of the Gentry of Justice, the Attorney General, must be a Minister. '''The Legislature' The Legislature is the lawmaking body of the Chinese government and exists in a unicameral system. All statutes originate here and are passed by majority approval of its members. If the Ministry vetoes a bill, 2/3 of the Legislature may vote to override the veto. It also possesses the sole power to impeach any official in government and remove them from office. While not specified in the Constitution, it is generally understood and interpreted that any binding referendum must first be approved for a public vote by the Legislature. Unlike the Ministry, the Legislature does not have a fixed size, beyond a lower limit of 5 and an upper limit of 25. Currently, its size is equal to 20% of the voting population of the last election, which came to 14 seats. The Legislature is led by its Cabinet, who are the Speaker and Vice Speaker. Elected by the legislators through approval voting, the Cabinet organizes the official voting sessions of the body and oversees them. The current Speaker and Vice Speaker are thorn969 and TheIpleJonesion, respectively. The Judiciary The Judiciary is the court system of the government. It currently consists of the Supreme Court, which issues the highest rulings on cases, and any district courts that the Supreme Court may call into existence. There is currently only one of these courts, the First District Court (FDC). Exercising judicial review, the courts have the power to uphold or overturn any action, even those of the government, as legal or illegal. While never used for this purpose, the Constitution implies that the courts can also serve as bodies of arbitration. Where the law provides, the courts can issue penalties for criminal behavior, but to date no criminal cases have yet been heard. They can also issue mandatory writs to individuals and other bodies in the government. Supreme Court The Supreme Court is the senior body in the Judiciary. All legal decisions that it makes are indisputable. It currently consists of five members: Chief Justice Archwizard and Justices Parrish, Cyxpanek, Immaterial, and Bogdan. When a case is brought before the Court, it is heard if 2 of the 5 members consent to considering it. Hearings are usually 24 hours long, with a final opinion of the court and decision to be issued 72 hours after the close of the hearing. All opinions are binding and clarify any disputes in the law, instructing the parties involved what the legal solution to be followed is. Where other procedures are not clarified, the Chief Justice has the power to make decisions on behalf of the Court. Justices are nominated by the Ministry and confirmed by the Legislature, wherein they serve for a term of eight weeks. Once confirmed, the Justices decide among themselves who shall serve as Chief Justice for that term. The Chief Justice is generally the presiding justice over any hearing and usually announces the timelines and decisions of the court. The Court may create and dissolve up to four lower courts. If necessary, the Chief Justice or the other four justices may assign a special field of law to each court, but this power has not yet been utilized. When lower courts exist, the Court serves primarily as an appellate body. First District Court The FDC is the only lower court in the Judiciary. It exercises original jurisdiction of all cases brought to the branch. Currently, law requires that its three judges be appointed in the same manner as Supreme Court justices, to serve four-week terms. In advance of official appointment, the Court may appoint interim judges to the FDC, who may conduct its business until the seats are filled. The current members of the FDC are Dommitor, DaJuukes, and Taylor. Gentries All agencies of the government are known as gentries. Their structure and scope vary. They are made into existence by consent of the branches of government that create them, through the approval of charters. As such, each one is known as either an executive, legislative, judicial, or joint gentry. Each gentry is headed by a person known as a Scholar-Gentry, who may hold more specific titles (e.g. Attorney General). Examples include the Gentry of Elections and the Public Outreach Gentry. History The four-week, governmental cycles of Mk4 are based on the actual, historical periods of China, which are classified according to its imperial dynasties. With four cycles, the periods have been named after China's first four dynasties: Xia, Shang, Zhou, and Qin. Pre-Dynastic This period was marked by the emergence of political parties and formation of coalitions. The Liberal Party and the Progressive Union officially aligned. Meanwhile, a coalition known as the United Front (UF) formed, consisting of the Blood & Iron Party, the Unity Party, the Industrial Futurist Party, and the Anarcho-Syndcalists. Standing alone, the Celestial Party formed the third major power group. They played a leading role in the success of China as the civilization of Mk4. Xia Dynasty The results of the first elections, held on July 6, produced a split government, with none of the three major power groups possessing a majority in the Ministry or the Legislature. The Liberal-PU coalition won two ministerial seats, as did the UF, with the Celestials winning the last seat. In the Legislature, Liberal-PU won 4 out of 12 seats, the UF won 5, while the Celestials won the remaining 3. Despite the split, the UF emerged in leadership positions, with RetroSpaceMan and Archwizard of the Unity Party rising as China's first Speaker of the Legislature and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, respectively. WesGutt, meanwhile, was made Supreme Commander by the rest of the Ministry. Shortly after the elections, the Liberal Party rebranded as the Order of Dao. This period was marked by the opening moves of the game and many foundational statutes being passed. In the streams, a scout was famously lost to barbarian attackers, and the City of Wanmei was founded alongside Mt. Kilimanjaro, providing China a critical boost in culture. Songhai was discovered to the Southwest, while Persia was discovered to the North. RB33 v. China, a landmark case in the Supreme Court, extended the constitutional Right to Vote to the Legislature and all votes by its members during legislative sessions, while also nullifying a legislative recommendation in favor of the Tradition social policy tree. The UF, which initially formed in favor of Tradition, split as the Blood & Iron and Unity Parties began to favor Liberty and voted in favor of it, alongside Dao-PU. With bills stalled 6 - 6 in the legislature, the decision fell to the Ministry. While a majority of Ministers initially favored Tradition, Bear was swayed by a public referendum that supported Liberty and cast his deciding vote in favor of it. As the UF began to collapse, a new party, known as the People's Party, formed and ballooned in membership size. The Anarcho-Syndicalists, seeing the UF split, decided to merge with it, forming the Union of the People (UP). Toward the end of the Xia Dynasty, the UP joined the Dao-PU coalition in secret, which created the Grand Coalition.